George Bush's pardons of former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger and five other Iran-Contra figures underscore the need for independent investigations of top government officials, special prosecutor Lawrence Walsh told the American Bar Association Tuesday.
"It is a disparagement of the rule of law for a president to use his pardon power to prevent the trial of a personal colleague," Walsh said in prepared remarks as the ABA prepared to close its midwinter meeting."It is particularly inappropriate when the president himself is a party to the issues involved and was a potential witness to embarrassing facts, as would have been the case in the trial of Weinberger," he said.
Bush pardoned Weinberger and five other Iran-Contra figures on Christmas Eve - an act Walsh called an abuse of power. Weinberger had been scheduled to stand trial in early January.
Walsh has been investigating the Iran-Contra scandal since 1986 under the law authorizing the appointment of independent counsels to investigate allegations of wrongdoing by top government officials. The law was enacted in 1978, five years after President Nixon fired Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox.
The law was renewed twice, but it expired on Dec. 15 after Republican senators blocked legislation to renew the measure.
"President Bush's pretrial pardons - as he was about to leave office and just two weeks before the commencement of the Wein-ber-ger trial - may in history be recognized as perhaps the most dramatic possible demonstration of the unfitness of an administration to clean its own house," Walsh said.
In Houston, Bush spokesman Andrew Maner said: "President Bush acted with compassion and good conscience in his pardons, but we will not comment on Judge Walsh's report."